THE PERFECT AMERICAN envisions the last three months of Walt Disney. Shuffling between the dreary present and memories of his upbringing, Glass fills in the spaces where the known facts end. As Disney is haunted by his own mortality and growing empire, Glass shows there is more to this icon than simply making dreams come true. With appearances by Abraham Lincoln, Andy Warhol and Disney’s family, this whirlwind opera is a poetic and tragic story of the American Dream.

“When I started out, people thought I was going to laugh at him,” Glass said recently in an interview with The Guardian. “But I see Walt Disney as an icon of modernity, a man able to build bridges between highbrow culture and popular culture; just like Leonard Bernstein, who could jump from a Broadway musical to a Mahler cycle.”

THE PERFECT AMERICAN runs April 22nd and 30th at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance. For more information visit chicagooperatheater.org.

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